Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has warned the ruling All Progressives Congress government to end what he considered as a systematic campaign of harassment and intimidation against opposition figures, after he was formally adopted as the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress.
Atiku on Wednesday in a statement on X called out the government directly over the continued detention of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who he said had been held for three months despite court orders granting him bail.
“He has been denied the right to celebrate two important religious holidays with his family in addition to being denied the opportunity to be by his mother’s side as she took her last breath. All because he is a leading opposition figure. This kind of cruelty must stop,” Atiku said.
El-Rufai, a former two-term governor and federal minister, is among several opposition politicians Atiku accused the APC of targeting through security agencies and anti-corruption bodies.
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He alleged that prosecutions tend to evaporate once a suspect crosses the floor to join the ruling party.
He said, “Once a person joins the APC, the harassment ceases and the charges against them magically disappear. This abuse of power must stop.”
Atiku also levelled accusations at the Independent National Electoral Commission and elements within the judiciary, claiming they had been used to engineer leadership crises inside opposition parties and to undermine the ADC coalition itself, including attempts to have the party deregistered.
He issued a direct warning to the presidency, INEC and the courts against any further interference.
“Enough is enough,” he said.
Atiku saw his candidacy as part of a rescue mission rather than a personal triumph, despite his confrontational tone. He urged fellow primary contestants and party members to unite immediately, describing celebrations as premature given what he called Nigeria’s rapid slide into economic hardship, insecurity, nepotism and one-party rule.
“No one was defeated because we are one party, and we all need to recognise the fierce urgency of the moment,” he maintained.
The ADC, which Atiku described as a coalition built through considerable sacrifice and compromise, held primaries he characterised as free, fair and transparent.
General elections are scheduled for early next year, and Atiku said the real work was only just beginning.
“We have to prepare to campaign hard to win the next general elections in order to begin the difficult process of rescuing our country and its long-suffering people from this government,” he said.
Atiku, who has contested the presidency on multiple previous occasions, thanked party officials, volunteers and supporters for conducting an orderly process, and called on all wings of the party to close ranks ahead of what he called the most serious threat to Nigerian democracy since the return to civilian rule in 1999.
